Psalm 35

Psalm 35 (Amplified Bible)

Psalm 35

[A Psalm] of David.

 ¹CONTEND, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!     ²Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help!
    ³Draw out also the spear and javelin and close up the way of those who pursue and persecute me. Say to me, I am your deliverance!
    ⁴Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek and require my life; let them be turned back and confounded who plan my hurt!
    ⁵Let them be as chaff before the wind, with the ^[a]Angel of the Lord driving them on!
    ⁶Let their way be through dark and slippery places, with the Angel of the Lord pursuing and afflicting them.
    ⁷For without cause they hid for me their net; a pit of destruction without cause they dug for my life.
    ⁸Let destruction befall [my foe] unawares; let the net he hid for me catch him; let him fall into that very destruction.
    ⁹Then I shall be joyful in the Lord; I shall rejoice in His deliverance.
    ¹⁰All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like You, You Who deliver the poor and the afflicted from him who is too strong for him, yes, the poor and the needy from him who snatches away his goods?
    ¹¹Malicious and unrighteous witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I know not.
    ¹²They reward me evil for good to my personal bereavement.
    ¹³But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting, and I prayed with head bowed on my breast.
    ¹⁴I behaved as if grieving for my friend or my brother; I bowed down in sorrow, as one who bewails his mother.
    ¹⁵But in my stumbling and limping they rejoiced and gathered together [against me]; the smiters (slanderers and revilers) gathered against me, and I knew them not; they ceased not to slander and revile me.
    ¹⁶Like profane mockers at feasts [making sport for the price of a cake] they gnashed at me with their teeth.
    ¹⁷Lord, how long will You look on [without action]? Rescue my life from their destructions, my dear and only life from the lions!
    ¹⁸I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among a mighty throng.
    ¹⁹Let not those who are wrongfully my foes rejoice over me; neither let them wink with the eye who hate me without cause.^{(A)
    20}For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful matters against those who are quiet in the land.
    ²¹Yes, they open their mouths wide against me; they say, Aha! Aha! Our eyes have seen it!
    ²²You have seen this, O Lord; keep not silence! O Lord, be not far from me!
    ²³Arouse Yourself, awake to the justice due me, even to my cause, my God and my Lord!
    ²⁴Judge and vindicate me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness (Your rightness and justice); and let [my foes] not rejoice over me!
    ²⁵Let them not say in their hearts, Aha, that is what we wanted! Let them not say, We have swallowed him up and utterly destroyed him.
    ²⁶Let them be put to shame and confusion together who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify and exalt themselves over me!
    ²⁷Let those who favor my righteous cause and have pleasure in my uprightness shout for joy and be glad and say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.
    ²⁸And my tongue shall talk of Your righteousness, rightness, and justice, and of [my reasons for] Your praise all the day long.